Parenthood Trials
by The Blue Huntress
Summary: Sephiroth tends to the infants while Cloud gets his much needed rest. [Drabble, oneshot, yaoi, MPREG, fluff, some OCCness]


_Disclaimer:_ We don't own FF7, Square-Enix does. If we did, we'd be living in Palm Springs with gold peacocks on our estates.

_Warning:_ Yaoi, some OOC-ness, fluff, and mentioning of male pregnancy!

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**Parenthood trials**

Wailing and broken cries are waking me up, reminding me of the time of the Wutai War. Sleep was dangerous, then. These days, it is simply impossible. Ever had this feeling of waking up and having the impression it's only been only a few minutes you've been sleeping? Well, lately, it's a habit, here.

As I turn my head to confirm that I went to bed an hour or so ago, my gaze falls on Cloud. He's sleeping soundly, for once. Although he doesn't tell me, I know he still suffer from those eight months and the surgery. It's been a week now that Angel and Zack are home with us, and I have to practically fight with him just so he can have the rest that he deserves. Now is my chance to do so.

With no more time to waste, as the cries become suddenly more urgent, I hurry up and walk toward their room. I am still unused to their crying, and it tends to get to me pretty fast. I still have to adjust myself to this new life, and on that point Cloud is having an advantage on me; as he carried them, he had plenty more time to develop the 'paternal instinct', if I can say that… I am nervously trying to find my way through the dark hall, and when I do, I ask myself why, in times like these, do I /absolutely/ have to bang my toe on the door frame? Could you ever believe that the Great Sephiroth, mighty and powerful ex-General of Shinra army could get floored by lack of sleep and an injured toe?

I repress a curse and utter only a small growl - no Great General would suffer pain nor would he cry out. (I still have my pride, you know)

I do not enjoy the wake-up cries from the children, nor do I enjoy cleaning them, or feeding them. I promise you it is a test of endurance to wake up at blasphemous hours and tend to your child's every need and desire.

However, a smile tugs at my lips, as I think in later years Cloud and I will reflect upon these little trials with melancholy happiness, for the joys of parenthood includes the responsibility of caring for the little ones.

I enter the baby room, listening to the cacophony as both of them try to compete for my attention. I believe Zack has the most powerful lungs of any child I have ever heard in my life, but Angel can make himself be heard if he wants to be listened to.

I think it is amazing how the human body could once have been this tiny, when I pick up Zack from his cradle and begin to gently sway him in my arms. I quickly sniff him, and I sigh in relief when there is no early morning cleaning had to be done. Perhaps he was hungry? Infants need to be feed every two or three hours – their metabolism is astounding.

While Cloud did not develop the female mammary glands (as Cid and Barret had both made a bet for it), we had to substitute for a special formula made by our doctor. Apparently, children whose parents were a part of SOLDIER carried a bit of Mako in them – a bad trait for their appetites. It makes them digest their food faster and makes them hungrier than a normal baby. But both Cloud and I were blessed that our children were not deformed in any way when they were born, so this is a small price to pay.

I walk over to Angel's cradle and use my free hand to gently rock his cradle, putting him more at ease than his sibling. Soon after I start rocking Zack, he seems to settle and be content with the world around him.

I gently place the silent Zack back into his cradle and turn to walk toward the kitchen, but his whimpers drive me back to his cradle.

"Shhh, it is alright. You have no reason to worry, I will be back," I assure him in a calm voice, a technique to calm an infant that a good nurse demonstrated to me.

I quickly leave the room, heading to the kitchen with the mission to make the milk in a fast yet quiet way.

Unfortunately, when I arrive a slightly unacceptable sight greeted me.

Cloud was wearing his dark blue cotton robe while he was gently taking both bottles of formula out from the pan of warm water, and was about to put it under the tap of hot water. The full moon from the kitchen window gave his pale skin a silver glow, and despite looking tired his eyes were glowing with happiness.

"Cloud, why are you up? You know you need your bed rest," I sigh gently as I try to ease the bottles away from him. Cloud refused to hand me both of them by turning away from my greedy hands, and he coyly made his way to the sink.

"I know, Sephiroth," Cloud said with his unusually tired voice. I am used to listening his cheerful voice that this tired one seems so… unnatural.

"However, it takes two people to raise two infants, eh?" he gently stated while shutting off the hot water. He had made his point to me.

Smiling, I took one of the bottle and started shaking it, mixing the formula.

"Very well, but you take Angel – Zack tends to be fastidious while feeding", I said, yielding to Cloud's resolve. Cloud gave a small laugh. "What?"

"'Fastidious' – why don't you just say picky?" Cloud asked, one brow cocked in curiosity.

"I prefer long words – they sound more intelligent," I sniffed indignantly.

"They sound like they take too much air to pronounce," Cloud quips to me avoiding my gentle punch. He quickly runs upstairs, to where both our sons are waiting for our presence while their cries increase tenfold with every seconds.

I follow him to the baby room, where our burdens are not so patiently waiting. Cloud is already in his chair, feeding Angel, while Zack is still crying out for some attention. Carefully I pick him up and show him his bottle. I swear, something must click in his mind when I do this, for he stops crying each time and tries to grab my hair. Zack seems fascinated by hair, every time I feed him he pulls on it all along, if he doesn't he won't eat. At all.

I sit on the chair next to Cloud, allowing my ego to be battered a little as my son is pulling at my hair again and enjoy the silence.

One thing I learned about myself while taking care of our sons is that I love to hug. This makes me smile, and I can hear Cloud's laughing at me.

"What is it, now?"

"Nothing, Seph. It's just… you two are too cute like this."

I humph playfully, taking away the empty bottle, placing a towel on my shoulder before leaning Zack on my chest to make him burp. Like usual, it's done fast and all I had to do was pat his back a little. Now his sleepy blue eyes look up to me, and I know I only have to rock him a few minutes – he'll drop dead for a few hours. As I will, in a few minutes more. The quiet rocking lulls us both near oblivion, and as I carefully place Zack back into his cradle, he is fast asleep.

With surprise I realise that Cloud is looking at me with concern, and he takes my hand as I take a step forward and wince in pain.

"Seph…What happened to your toe? It's blue… You didn't bang it on the door frame again?"

I nod slightly. I feel Cloud pulling on my hand as he drags me to the bathroom and starts rummaging in the first aid closet. He's such a mother hen with me… it's not like I can't stand the pain, but I know he hates it when I hurt myself without telling him. So I let him do as he pleases, because arguing with him now could make us lose precious minutes of much needed sleep.

As we lay back down on the bed, I feel Cloud snuggle at my side. He yawns loudly and makes a small moan of discomfort.

"See, we could have looked at that tomorrow morning. You are tired and hurt. First thing tomorrow, I am going to call father so you can sleep a little. You need to rest, love."

I sense Cloud stiffen at that.

"Look who's talking," he says playfully, "You are the one with a broken toe! First thing you are going to do tomorrow is to go to the clinic. Then you are going to get yourself a new pair of slippers. I will call Vincent and Cid."

"Not fair…", I yawn back, beaten.

He laughs tiredly at me while snuggling even more closer. To what I answer by sticking out my tongue to him. Which earned me a playful slap on my shoulder.

"Grumpy baby must go to sleep."

Argh. I hate it when he has the last word.

**End**

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Author's notes

_Htress:_ TA-DA! Here we go again! That was not so difficult, after all, am I right, guys? Err, guys?

_Sephiroth:_ ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZ

_Cloud:_ ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZ

_Htress:_ Okay, maybe I was too hard on them?

_Blue Baroness:_ Nope! They're SOLDIERs, after all!

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